Collection is open to the public. Collection must be used in Special Collections and University Archives Reading Room. Collection or parts of collection may be stored offsite. Please contact Special Collections and University Archives in advance of your visit to allow for transportation time.
Joseph Nathan Teal (1858-1929) was born in Eugene, Oregon. He became a cattle and sheep rancher in eastern Oregon. He studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1884.
Teal operated a law office out of Portland. He specialized in railroad rate matters, and was a strong advocate of waterways development. In 1920-1921, he served as U.S. Shipping Commissioner.
The collection (1900-1926) contains correspondence regarding railroad administration and rate making, the single-tax movement, copies of letters by President Woodrow Wilson, and also information and photographs of the Celio Canal construction.
The collection is roughly organized by subject.
(1) Correspondence with William G. McAdoo, George E. Chamberlain, and others concerning appointment of Teal on U. S. Railroad Administration, and McAdoo as a presidential possibility, 1918-1920.
(2) Correspondence, documents, and pamphlets on railroad rate making, relevant to Teal's pamphlet, "The Future Course of Rate Making," (Eugene, Oregon, 1918). The correspondence is with Howard Elliott, president of the Northern Pacific Railway company, J. G. Woodworth, U. S. Railroad Commission, and others, 1918-1920.
(3) Letters, clippings, documents, and broadsides on the single-tax movement in Oregon, 1911-1912. Includes copy of Oregon Equal Taxer (Portland, June 11, 1912) and vol. 1, nos. 3, 4, 5 of Single Tax Broacher (Portland, May 10, September, October 1912).
In the Miscellany file are documents related to creation of the Portland Fly Casting Club, correspondence about the Columbia River with Andrew Weiss, Gifford Pinchot, and copies of White House correspondence from Woodrow Wilson.
There is also a volume of photographs of Celilo Canal construction and operation, presented to Teal by Jay Morrow, Lt. Col., Engineers, 1915.